•  The West African state of Gabon is famous for its biodiversity but in a galaxy of spectacular finds, one stands out: orange crocodiles.

• The dwarf crocodile is an African crocodile that is the smallest crocodile alive.

• It is found on the western coast of Africa and live in different freshwater sources such as small rivers, swamps, and mangroves.

• They rarely bask in the sun, which is pretty different from most crocodile species.

• These cave-dwelling dwarf crocodiles live in complete darkness all year long and have probably never seen any real light in their entire life span.

• Since they have no need for seeing things because of the darkness, these crocodiles have turned blind, and rather uses their other senses to find food in the caves.

• The lack of light in the Abanda caves may have caused depigmentation and urea in bat droppings may then have induced an orange hue.

• The bat guano began to attack their skin and transformed their colour.
• One possibility is that the orange crocodiles entered their present habitat through narrow openings which they then outgrew and could not return, and their skin eventually changed colour in response to the bat guano.

• These crocodiles have been in the Abanda caves for around 3,000 years, which correlates fairly well with a time when the sea level fell and this coastal zone became terrestrial once again.
• Mapping the cave complex, the scientists found four orange specimens in a community of 40.
• The crocodiles of normal colour live in grottos which are connected to the surface. But the orange-coloured ones live in caverns that are accessible today only from vertical shafts.
• However, the cave system also has smaller horizontal connections, which are filled with water or dry according to the level the ground water.

• In the total darkness, the animals survive on a diet of bats and crickets, unlike above-ground crocodiles of the same species which feed on fish and crustaceans.

• A comparison of cave-dwelling and above-ground crocodiles confirms that they have not become separate species.

• However, the subterranean creatures — whether orange or normal colour — have developed a specific genetic signature.

The Hindu